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Indian Lobster-cutlets

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Indian Lobster-cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Remove the tails from the lobsters and slice them into ⅓ inch thick pieces.

  2. Dip the lobster slices into beaten egg, then coat them with seasoned bread crumbs.

  3. Press the crumbs onto the lobster with a knife and repeat the egg and crumb process.

  4. Fry the coated lobster pieces in butter until light brown.

  5. Arrange the fried cutlets in a chain on a hot dish.

  6. Prepare a sauce with claw meat heated in melted butter, adding essence of anchovies, chili vinegar, salt, and mace.

  7. Serve the sauce in the center of the cutlets or in a separate tureen.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Bread + nutmegtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,997 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, egg, bread, pepper, nutmeg, butter, meat):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, egg, bread, pepper, nutmeg, butter, meat. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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